Connecting a Sunhouse SSHE070 storage heater

Gary53 · Feb 15, 2023

Hi,
My electrician removed an old Creda storage heater connected to only 1 off peak supply and installed the SSHE070 but as the power is off peak he cannot set it up.
He connected it up but it has not come on over the off peak period.
Has he missed something?
He asked me to contact Dimplex but no phone number and the online "ticket submission" is no good.
Please can anyone help with this issue I have.
Thanks.

Avo Mk8 · Feb 15, 2023

Yes your electrician has missed the fact this heater needs a permanent mains supply as well as the off peak supply
The instructions say:

[ElectriciansForums.net] Connecting a Sunhouse SSHE070 storage heater

You need the electrician back to connect it correctly!

Gary53 · Feb 15, 2023

Avo Mk8 said:
Yes your electrician has missed the fact this heater needs a permanent mains supply as well as the off peak supply
The instructions say:
View attachment 106169
You need the electrician back to connect it correctly!

Thanks very much for your reply.
I will let him know and hopefully he can run a new constant supply.
Thanks.

Gary53 · Feb 15, 2023

Avo Mk8 said:
Yes your electrician has missed the fact this heater needs a permanent mains supply as well as the off peak supply
The instructions say:
View attachment 106169
You need the electrician back to connect it correctly!

Hi,
Does it then switch automatically to off peak when the time is right?
Thanks

Avo Mk8 · Feb 15, 2023

Gary53 said:
Hi,
Does it then switch automatically to off peak when the time is right?
Thanks

The on-peak supply probably feeds a timer/control unit and a fan. The off peak supply will power the heating elements, but I suspect the on-peak is needed for the control unit to work, which seems to be borne out by your experience that it doesn't do anything with just the off-peak connected. I'll see what info there is on this.....

Gary53 · Feb 15, 2023

Avo Mk8 said:
The on-peak supply probably feeds a timer/control unit and a fan. The off peak supply will power the heating elements, but I suspect the on-peak is needed for the control unit to work, which seems to be borne out by your experience that it doesn't do anything with just the off-peak connected. I'll see what info there is on this.....

Thanks for all your help, I have passed on all to my electrician.
Thanks.

Avo Mk8 · Feb 15, 2023

You might want to read up on the operation of the controller if you haven't already!

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/Sunhouse/Sunhosue_SSHE_Instructions.pdf

I couldn't immediately see any definitive statement about on-peak power being necessary for it to work, but given the circuit block diagram at the back showing the heating elements apparently controlled through the pcb, I suspect you do need both supplies.

grumpyjohn01 · Feb 15, 2023

Avo Mk8 said:
You might want to read up on the operation of the controller if you haven't already!

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/Sunhouse/Sunhosue_SSHE_Instructions.pdf

I couldn't immediately see any definitive statement about on-peak power being necessary for it to work, but given the circuit block diagram at the back showing the heating elements apparently controlled through the pcb, I suspect you do need both supplies.

Just been looking around for a customer and I can't find any traditional restricted-supply only NSHs available to buy new, they all seem to need 2 supplies. Makes you wonder why they couldn't have a single unrestricted-supply and some kind of wireless signal when the off peak kicks in.?

baldelectrician · Feb 15, 2023

I have had this recently
You need to have the heater on the 24h supply and then get the switching times for off peak from the supplier- as well as ask them if the switch times stay on GMT or change by an hour in the summer

Good luck getting this from your electricity supplier- I would also ask them to send you it in writing

You then need to enter thesem details in the the relevant setting on the heater and hope it works OK, otherwise the heater will not work / the client gets a massive bill due to incorrect switching times

grumpyjohn01 · Feb 15, 2023

baldelectrician said:
I have had this recently
You need to have the heater on the 24h supply and then get the switching times for off peak from the supplier- as well as ask them if the switch times stay on GMT or change by an hour in the summer

Good luck getting this from your electricity supplier- I would also ask them to send you it in writing

You then need to enter thesem details in the the relevant setting on the heater and hope it works OK, otherwise the heater will not work / the client gets a massive bill due to incorrect switching times

I was thinking you could make something up with a wireless transmitter fired by the off peak supply coming on then a receiver switch on each heater with a contactor or SSR to supply the storage part of the heater, would be clunky though and probably unsightly, unless you figured a way to build the extra components into the heater case somehow...

loz2754 · Feb 15, 2023

The 24 hour supply doesn't have to be a separate circuit. If there's a socket nearby, it may be possible to spur from it.
All of the the storage heaters I've fitted recently need two supplies due to the need for compliance with the Lot20 directive.
Some can be run on just a 24 hour supply, but as baldy says, it can be tricky to set it up properly.

Gary53 · Feb 15, 2023

loz2754 said:
The 24 hour supply doesn't have to be a separate circuit. If there's a socket nearby, it may be possible to spur from it.
All of the the storage heaters I've fitted recently need two supplies due to the need for compliance with the Lot20 directive.
Some can be run on just a 24 hour supply, but as baldy says, it can be tricky to set it up properly.

Thanks for your reply, I will pass on to my electrician.